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The Theory of Miasms-Personality Types
The Theory of Miasms-Personality Types
-- George Loukas
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basic psycho synthesis of the three miasms.
Fruedian Perspective:
However, the desire to find more information on the theory of
miasms through modern scientific opinions was strong. I did not
know how to do this. One day I was in the doctors’ office of the
neurological clinic of the military hospital. A patient’s escort came in
to ask for something. The way he asked for it was very
characteristic. This man was very demanding, looked to be very
angry and his speech had a strong tone of aggressiveness. I
thought that this man was syphilitic. As soon as we helped him
one of the psychiatrists present asked us: “colleagues, what do you
notice about this man’s behavior? He is angry. He bites. He is
orally fixed according to Freud’s theory”. This observation was very
useful to me. I made the first correlation that could help in the
deeper understanding of the theory of miasms. The syphilitic miasm
was related with the oral fixation of the Freud’s theory.
According to the Freudian thinking, three stages play an important
role in the development of a person’s personality.
The first stage is the oral which starts from the moment of birth
until the age of one and a half years. The main subject of this
stage is lactation and the progressive vacillation of the person from
a situation of dependence from the breast to a situation of
independence.
The second stage is the anal. It succeeds the oral until the age of
two and a half to three. The main subject of this stage is the
control of the sphincters.
The third stage is the oedipal. It succeeds the anal and starts from
the age of two and a half until the end of the fifth year. Main
subject of this stage is the unfulfilled love of the child to the parent
of the opposite sex.
A Miasmatic Corelation with Freudian Stages:
The person that did not normally go through one of those stages
has a fixation to that stage. Therefore, depending on the type of
fixation, three types are observed: the oral, the anal and the
oedipal.
The oral type is characterized by demanding behavior, nagging,
greed, rush, insulting behavior, tendency to dependence, strong
tendency to aggressiveness and disaster. These elements fit the
syphilitic type of the homeopathy thinking.
The anal type is characterized by neatness, tendency to niceness,
perfectionism, and exactitude. He has a tendency to miserliness, is
stubborn and dogmatic. He controls all his feelings. These elements
fit the sycotic type of the homeopathy thinking.
The oedipal type is characterized by the continuous search of an
ideal and unfulfilled target and during the effort to find it there are
many obstacles. The story of the little boy where his father is an
obstacle to his erotic desire for his mother is repeated. The oedipal
type corresponds to the tubercular type of homeopathy.
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The psoric type of homeopathy does not have a corresponding type
in the Freudian theory. This can be explained by the fact that
Freud worked with patient who had a strong psychopathology. The
psoric type has the minimum psychopathology. Therefore there was
no apparent reason for a psoric to follow psychoanalysis.
The above correlation widened my knowledge for miasms.
According to this new thinking certain basic concepts were clarified.
In order to define miasms, Hahnemann used certain nosological
entities, which may have been well-timed in his time but did not
last through the years. Even the term miasm proved unsuccessful.
The use of nosological entities for the naming of miasms caused
confusion. Therefore certain authors got into discovering new
miasms according to various serious diseases.
According to the new evidence, a new general typology started to
appear. Each type has its own characteristics and its own
tendencies for a disease. It is not restricted to one disease but
may produce a group of diseases. But their understanding needed
to be widened through other theoretical systems.
Pavlov's Perspective:
In one of my trips to India, I met the homeopathy doctor Jawahar
Shah who had started a similar study as I but from a different
angle, Pavlov’s psychology. Shah was working with a team of
psychiatrists and had introduced elements from the Russian
Pavlov’s theory to the theory of miasms. Pavlov had developed a
typology of his own thus: the active balanced, the weak balanced,
the powerful stimulating and the weak repressed. He had also
correlated those types to the Hippocrates typology which included
four types: the bloody, the phlegmatic, the choleric and the
melancholic.
As I continued the study I could make more correlations relating to
the typology of the four types. In the total study for diathesis I
presented a common model, including elements from different
theoretical systems.
The table below provides a scheme of correlations of the various
theoretical systems.
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MIASM C MIASM R MIASM
FREUD
There is mo direct ANAL ORAL OEDIPAL
correlation. The FIXATION FIXATION FIXATION
concepts of
psychological conflict
and repression are
classified here.
PARACELSUS
SULFUR DISEASES SALT MERCURY
DISEASES DISEASES
PAVLOV
ACTIVE BALANCED QUIET WEAK POWERFUL
BALANCE REPRESSE STIMULATIN
D D G
HIPPOCRATES
BLOOD PHLEGM BLACK YELLOW
BILE BILE
EMPEDOCLES
FIRE WATER EARTH AIR
PLATO
FIRE WATER EARTH AIR
ST. GREGORY OF
NYSSA
HEAVEN WATER EARTH AIR
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is completed, there appears a peculiar skin exanthema. He argued
that, “Psora is the oldest, the most universal, the most devastating
and most little known miasmatic disease, which has disfigured and
tormented nations for thousands of years”. For Hahnemann, psora
is a disease or the susceptibility to a disease which has been
passed from generation to generation for thousands of years and it
is the breeding ground for every sickly condition. At the same time
it is the most contagious and infectious disease of all.
If one wants to describe the common characteristics of hundreds of
symptoms of psora, two properties should be mentioned:
hypersensitivity and lack. Lack is stressed in some books and
hypersensitivity in others.
We can understand the concept of hypersensitivity with a simple
example: If we stimulate externally two different individuals they will
react differently. The psoric individual reacts more strongly than the
supposedly “normal individual”. That is to say there is a fall of
limen and there is an excessive reaction. This reaction is towards
the right direction but it is strong. This hypersensitivity is present in
all aspects of the psoric’s life. He is very observant and aware of
his immediate environment. He is sensitive. He also gets angry
easily. After he has expressed his anger and has had a good sleep
he is not hateful. He also cries easily. After crying he feels better.
He is temperamental due to the hypersensitivity. His hypersensitivity
comes with genuine expressiveness. He is very rich in the
expressions of his feelings. He conveys sentiments. The psoric can
be a scientist or an artist. He is hypersensitive to light, sound and
smell. He gets scared very easily from unimportant causes. The
most typical expression of the hypersensitivity in the body is itching.
An external or internal itching, like tickling for example, is a sign of
psora. The suppression of the external bodily manifestations of
psora, because of the wrong medical treatment, results in the
appearance of an internal or psychic itching, which is even more
troublesome to the individual. Such suppressions led Hahnemann to
the discovery of the psoric miasma and its description.
The other main characteristic of psoric miasma is lack. This lack is
expressed as a feeling of inadequacy. There is a deep feeling of
inferiority. It can be seen in the successful businessman who is
intelligent and hard-working but who always wants to rely on
somebody else. He is always looking for a partner. His partner, if
he is a crook, can easily take advantage of him. He always needs
support; he always seeks protection. This feeling of inferiority can
also be seen in the scientist, who continuously asks for the support
of his teacher or his colleagues despite the fact that he knows his
subject well. He seeks for care and sympathy in his relationships.
This is due to his reticence which is caused by the feeling of
inferiority. He has a lot of inhibitions. Each of his actions is stopped
by an internal voice. He is anxious and gets scared easily.
This sense of inadequacy forces him to live in a world of fantasy
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which however is not the autistic world of a schizophrenic. It is
simply the feeling of inadequacy that stops him from fulfilling his
dreams. Thus his rich inner world has to be expressed through
fantasy. This can be seen in the individual who goes to a lecture
and instead of paying attention he spends most of his time day-
dreaming. There is a loss of contact because of certain deep
emotions due to his hypersensitivity and on the other hand in the
non expression of these emotions due to his feeling of inadequacy.
Thus, psorics are people with a rich inner world, which is not
expressed and is not completely realized, because they lack
boldness. Because of their feeling of inferiority they become
stagnant, immobile and reserved. If this feeling of inferiority was
absent they would be much happier people and would offer more
to society. The awareness of their “helplessness” causes them
sadness. When they feel sad they look far into the future and see
happier days ahead. The words of a popular Greek song express
very well the psoric sadness: “Be patient and the sky will become
bluer...” There is hope in them; it has not been lost.
The psoric is particularly concerned with what others think of him,
he respects society’s customs and traditions and feels guilty if he
does not abide by the rules. This is easily explained by the feeling
of inadequacy. It is this feeling of inadequacy that makes him
always seek support from someone else. He creates relationships of
support, bonds of support and he does not want them to break
because he will be left alone without them. Behind the socializing
of people lies the need for support from the group. He fears
rejection.
These needs of his continuously inhibit his desires. “I must” is
stronger than “I want”. For example before the psoric acts he asks
himself if it is socially acceptable and if it is not, he usually does
not act. He is very generous with his relatives. He is easily hurt by
the remarks of others. It takes him time to express his anger but
once it is expressed the incident is forgotten.
The psoric individual has a tendency towards platonic love. Let’s
say that a psoric man likes a woman. He thinks: “What a beautiful
woman ... What an amiable person ... I wonder if she likes me.
Well, so many men are after her, I doubt that she wants me ...
What if she rejects me?” Here also there is an inhibition. An
inhibition caused by his sense of inadequacy on one hand and on
the other his fear that his behavior could be rejected by society.
This makes him experience love through fantasy. He is a person
who has fallen in love many times but who has very rarely fulfilled
his fantasies. He is also emotional, he gets worried easily and he
gets hurt easily. His love fantasies are heterosexual. He is pure in
his feelings. He falls in love with the whole person not with a
breast or a thigh. He sees the personality and does not see his
partner as a sex object.
The psoric is also religiously inclined. He is religious in a broad
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sense. His faith is of a philosophizing nature, is the need for
search, and is the agony of existence. In other words it is the
sense of inadequacy towards the vastness of universe.
Generally the psoric human has a tendency to comply with the
customs and traditions and social laws and has a developed social
sense. Thus he believes in concepts like the family, work etc. He
wishes to create a family, he likes work, and he patiently fulfills his
social obligations as for example the military service. He considers
the community service as an honor and does not prioritize his
personal interest above all.
The lack, characteristic in the body, appears in various ways as for
example by inadequate nourishment. He eats constantly but the
organism cannot absorb the food. Thus lack appears.
Those who mention that the lack of vitamins and trace elements
are responsible for the various diseases agree with the homeopathy
thinking because they focus in the point that is related to the psoric
miasm. For example the lack of vitamin A causes dryness. Dryness
is one of the basic symptoms of the psoric miasm. Hahnemann did
not know the existence of vitamin A when he wrote about the
psoric miasm.
Deficiency of minerals causes a disorder to the normal function of
the organism. Calcium deficiency causes osteomalacia, cardiac
disorders, and neuromuscular excitability. Potassium deficiency
causes cardiac dysfunction and disorders of the acid-base
equilibrium. Sodium deficiency causes withholding or loss of water
of the organism. Iodine deficiency causes goiter. Magnesium
deficiency causes neuromuscular disorders, cardiac dysfunction and
osteomalacia. Ferrum deficiency causes anemia. Zinc deficiency
causes dermatological disorders, dysfunction of retina, diabetes,
azoospermia, abortion, senility. Copper deficiency causes
hepatolenticular degeneration, osteoporosis, and anemia. Cobalt
deficiency causes anemia and general weakness. Selenium
deficiency causes muscular dystrophy and cardiac dysfunction.
According to the above Hanhemann’s theory is confirmed, by which
he considered psoric miasm to be the basis of the entire human
disease.
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due to the fact that he ‘keeps things to himself”, he absorbs only a
part of intensity of the given stimulation. This shows that the person
is strong in appearance only. For instance, when he is subjected to
a sad stimulation, he does not seem to be sad.
In fact, however, this sort of strength is weakness and this is due
to the fact that this kind of person has a limited width of response.
He shows inflexibility in the way of functioning, that is to say. This
stiffness coexists with a tendency to have control. The sycotic
person wants to have control over other people and over himself as
well. He keeps every expression, every emotion of his under
control. He cannot stand the spontaneity of emotions and acts.
Pedantry is another feature of sycotic miasm. The housewife who
gets annoyed at finding a speck of dust on the furniture, who
sweeps and mops the floor three times a day, who forbids her
husband to enter the house with his shoes on, is an example of
sycotic pedantry.
In general the sycotic person is straight-laced prim and proper,
orderly, he concerns himself too much with schedule, so much that
he lays more weight on the schedule that on the essence of things.
He wants all the objects on his desk to be in alignment, he wants
his car to be perfectly clean, he sees that its color does not fade;
he protects it against the rain and the wind. He worries about small
details.
Religiosity is another example of sycotic pedantry. A religionist
focuses his attention not on philosophy and the deeper meaning of
religion but on the ritual. It is very important to him that the sign of
the cross is made three times, not two, that the fasting is observed
for exactly forty days, he is very strict on the observance of the
schedule. Religiosity, along with the other features of sycotic miasm,
were typical of the Scribes and Pharisees, who always abided by
the letter of the law but could not understand what purpose the
existence of the law served in the first place.
The sycotic scientist tends to classify the phenomena.
Classifications are sycotic expressions. Excessive adherence to
classifying systems, such as DSM or ICDX is sycosis. The notion
of specialty and overspecialization is a sycotic characteristic too.
The sycotic person focuses his attention on details but misses the
general picture. Therefore we can see the evolution of medicine
and science in general and how important it is to have a complete
and in depth cure of scientists so that science may evolve.
In general the sycotic person is dogmatic. To him it is all black or
white. He is inflexible. He is not receptive to new ideas. He rejects
a new idea without even examining it. Reclassifications in the
system of knowledge and values fill him with anxiety. He wants
knowledge and ideas to be well classified inside his head. He
wants everything to be arranged and fixed. That causes him a
need for control.
He wants to keep control of everything. The complexity and
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multiformity of nature scare him. The perpetual motion of universe
also scares him. Consequently of all this multiformity he picks out
what he can classify, what he can put in order. That is usually only
the surface of phenomena. Once he has classified it, he will try to
keep it steady and fixed. He allows only small changes, which he
can control.
In general, there is a tendency in sycosis for exaggeration of the
psoric features. For instance, the psoric person has a vague and
unconscious feeling of inferiority. When, however the person thinks
that he is not capable of anything, that he is not good-looking, that
he is not intelligent, that he is lacking in everything, then we notice
an excessive expression of the feeling of inferiority and it is the
case of sycotic miasm.
As far as the love life of a sycotic person is concerned, he has
many fantasies related to the love partner. For example, as soon
as a sycotic man sees a woman, he has fantasies about erotic
positions. But although he has strong fantasies, he usually does not
express himself during love making, does use love talk, is cold and
always in control.
In the physical sphere hyperplasies and hypertrophies prevail. As
previously said, sycosis owes its name to this feature. Sycosis is
also characterized by an increase in secretions. For instance,
gonorrhea is a sycotic manifestation. Sycotic eczema shows profuse
effusion of fluids. At other times we notice retention of fluids in the
organism. Inflammation is a major feature of sycosis as well as
formation of cysts.
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show off by wearing multi-colored scarves of his team, the syphilitic
person seeks destruction at every single moment.
The syphilitic religious person also destroys in the name of God in
whom he believes. He wants to kill, to eliminate the supporter of a
different religion; in contrast to the psoric person who penetrates
the deeper meaning of religion and who is a religious philosopher
as well as the sycotic person who sticks to ritualism.
Another syphilitic expression of religious sentiment is the rites of
“Black Magic”. The believer invokes the God of conquest and
destruction in order to achieve his aims, either of conquest or
destruction. Another frequent syphilitic picture is atheism.
The “iconoclast” who respects nothing, who believes in nothing, is
also another syphilitic expression. Religion is an expression of the
law, the syphilitic struggles against the law. Syphilitic persons do
not have a developed social consciousness; they cannot offer other
people anything of themselves.
They are anti-heroes; they do not accept having social obligations.
They refuse to do their military service as by law enacted.
Indicative of that is Caryotaki’s poem:
Michalios
Michalios has gone to the army.
He started in pride
together with Maris and Panayiotis
He could learn not even the “slope arms”
He always used to mumble: Mr. corporal,
let me go back to my village.
The next year in the hospital,
he was silently looking at the sky.
he was pointing his eyes in one point,
his look was nostalgic and gentle,
as if he was saying, as if he was begging:
Let me go home.
and Michalios died a soldier.
Some soldiers escorted him,
Maris and Panayiotis were with them.
The hole was covered on top of them,
but they left his foot outside:
Poor guy he was a little tall….
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to dependence is the main predisposing factor to dependence on
toxic substances and alcohol, which in their heavy forms are
syphilitic situations.
Another feature described above is how easily the syphilitic person
becomes disorganized under the impact of a stress producing
stimulation. Even in the case of a stimulation of medium intensity
there is a tendency to disorganisation, complete disorganisation, till
the person is brought to the verge of the organism’s destruction.
So it happens, for example, during a psychotic incident. The
syphilitic reaction to a stimulation, which an ordinary man considers
to be of medium intensity, is a complete disorganisation, a complete
loss of contact with reality. We will say more on that subject in the
following paragraphs.
The syphilitic’s person anger is a violent, explosive anger that
scares the people present. It is characterized by destructiveness.
The psoric person is hot-tempered, as a result of his intense
oversensitivity. It is, however, a superficial and temporary
annoyance. After having expressed himself, the annoyance is gone.
The sycotic person usually controls his anger but when expressed,
is excessive; so excessive that he becomes the focus of attention.
In no case, however, will he scare the others, as the syphilitic
person will.
The syphilitic person’s sadness is marked by destructiveness too.
The person thinks there is no sense in living any longer. He is
gloomy, sad and dismal. He denies life completely. He is not
interested in anything; in contrast to the sycotic person, who shows
his sadness through face expression, body posture and tears, and
contrary to the psoric person, who retires into himself, possessed
with feelings of inadequacy.
At moments of joy he is characterized by destructiveness as well.
He wants to destroy out of joy. This destructiveness may manifest
itself either outwards or inwards by driving the person mad.
Someone losing his senses on a happy occasion is syphilitic
miasm; contrary to the sycotic person, who wants everyone to
share in his joy, and contrary to the psoric person, who behaves
like a child when he becomes emotional.
Intense desire to put an end to one’s life is syphilitic miasm as
well. Suicide or Murder. It is an expression of the destructiveness
typical of the syphilitic person. Generally speaking, the syphilitic
person does not experience joy. He cannot feel the simple joys of
life. For example, at a child’s birth the syphilitic person will be
thinking to himself: “Why have you come to this world? …You’d
better not have been born…Troubles and worries await you”.
On the other hand the sycotic person will be boasting about his
child, trying to point out the new-born’s natural gifts, and he wants
everyone to admire his child, whereas the enthusiastic psoric
person behaves like a child out of joy.
Destructiveness is the predominant feature in the physical sphere. A
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typical physical manifestation of syphilitic miasm is ulcer. Ulcer is a
destructive process. There is destruction of shape, destruction of
structure at some point of the tissue.
Quick metastasis often goes together with the destructiveness of the
cancer process as we see in some forms of cancer.
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Thus he often desires someone else’s wife or falls in love with a
person with whom a love affair is not feasible due to the
circumstances. The same thing also applies to his interests. He
likes to keep himself busy with constantly new things. Daily routine
and ordinary life is not for him. He easily gets bored. That is why
he constantly wants to take up new activities, new ideas. His spirit
is always on the move. Thus he can be witty or have artistic
aptitudes especially for music and literature. The tubercular person
has constantly new inspirations but he finds it hard to systematize
all these new ideas. He has difficulty in finishing what he has
started to do. This is the reason why he always starts something
else and then something else again etc. It is very important to
keep that in mind regarding the education of tubercular children. A
strict educational system and strict parents will only aggravate the
state of health of such children and there is serious danger of
appearance of one of the diseases that belong to the sphere of
tubercular miasm.
In the tubercular miasm the rejection of daily routine in fantasy and
the pursuit of the elusive ideal, result in conflict with the law. Inside
the tubercular person lies the fear of punishment. Many times it is
subconscious and expresses his fantasy of being punished because
he dared to desire something different, something new. As a result
of that the tubercular person avoids open conflict with the law and
chooses to run away.
This is an intense feature of his. When he is subjected to a stress
producing stimulation, he does not respond directly in the same
direction but he reacts intensely in the reverse direction. Thus, in
order to get over the sadness due to a loss he may show working
over activity or he may go to a nightclub to blow off steam and get
over the sorrow of the incident. The Zeibekiko dance (popular
Greek dance in 7/8) is a typical tubercular symbol.
The study of the “rempetika” tubercular songs is of interest. After
studying their verses we conclude that the main and more frequent
subject of those songs is the mother.
In the tubercular miasm we often notice alternations in the mental
sphere. Thus we sometimes see the tubercular person seeking
protection and sometimes independence. Sometimes he is inactive
and sometimes restless. Sometimes he is depressed and sometimes
overly cheerful. Sometimes he is violent and sometimes extremely
sensitive.
The physical characteristics mentioned are the tendency to
suppuration, fistulas, diverticulums, and scars. Also the tendency to
emaciation and feebleness, the tendency to intense perspiration, the
sensitivity to cold and to weather changes.
George Lukas
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